Mechelen (Brussels Morning Newspaper): Kaat Marien, cycling guide and founder of De Fietsgids in Mechelen, will celebrate five years in spring 2025. She offers bike and walking tours that show the city’s cultural heritage and sustainability efforts.
In the spring of 2025, Kaat Marien from Sint-Katelijne-Waver will celebrate five years as a cycling guide, known as De Fietsgids. After nineteen years as a French teacher, she switched to career guidance due to challenges in her job. During this process, she realized her passion for cycling and travel, leading her to become a cycling guide. Kaat has guided trips in cities like Bangkok, Bogota, Buenos Aires, and Havana, where she enjoys showing people how to explore these vibrant places in just a few hours on a bike.
What inspired Kaat Mariën to start De Fietsgids and expand her cycling tours in Mechelen?
Kaat Marien started offering tours in Mechelen after being inspired by local tourism leaders. Kaat began with the Mechelen Classics tour and has added more, like Streetart and Beer from Here, now working with eight local guides. She recently found secondhand bikes for her tours instead of renting them.
Kaat Marien found a garage that helped her start her tours and store her bikes, allowing her to invest in sustainable bicycles made from discarded lease bikes. A chance meeting with caterer Classes André, who runs a meal service for seniors, led to them sharing his warehouse space in Mechelen. This new location improved her guiding business, and now Kaat also offers walking tours called De Wandelgids, inspired by guides from cities like Athens and Paris.
